Improved starting apparatus for street oars



T. B. JORDAN.

Car- Starter. No. 63,726. I Patented Apr. 9, 1867.

Mnas, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. 0 c.

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IMPROVED STARTING AlPARATUS FOR STREET CARS.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, THOMAS l3. JORDAN, of Gloucester, in the county of Camden, and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Street-Car Starter; and I do hereby. declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a street-car body with my improved device for starting it attached at one end, taken in the line a: x, fig. 2.

Figure 2 is a bottom view of the same.

Figure 3 is a top view.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

, This invention relates to an improved device for starting street ears to relieve the horses of the first strain required to overcome the inertia of a standing car, and consists in conneeting with the wheelseccentric-cams combined with levers, which clamp on the axles and periphery of the wheels, when the horses start, by means ofccrds or chains attaching them to a sliding draught-pole, and thus giro motion to the wheels at the first pull of the horses, which enables them to start the car and travel without the viblent exertion necessary at starting it on a dead pull to move the whole weight of the car and passengers at once. l

A represents a car frame or body, and B B the wheels on the axles a a, arranged as usual. Next the inside of each wheel is a lever, b, which has a hook at one end that slips loosely around the axle, and at the'other end is pivoted to a cam or eccentric-block, c. The lever passes through and works up and down in a slot guide, d, behind the axle, to regulate its movement and keep it from contact with the wheel. Attached to the eccentricblock a, a cord or chain, c, passes to the end of a sliding cross-bar, f, under the end of the ear frame, where it Works back and forth in slides g g at each end. This sliding cross-bar f is connected in front with a sliding draught-pole, O, in any convenient manner, and at the rear with a spiral spring, 7L, fastened to the bottom of the car frame. On the front side of the cross-bar f is pivoted a hooked latch, i, that catches in a corresponding hooked latch on the rear end of the sliding tongue C, by which means the sliding bar f is drawn forward when the horses start, until the latch 2' reaches a trip, is, that throws it oif'and releases the sliding bar, so that it may be drawn back to its usual place at the rear of the slidcg, as shown clearly-in fig. 1.

It will be seen that the combined operation of these several devices-is as follows, viz, that when the horses stop, the car will continue to move forward, and the sliding tongue G will slip back, when the latch a will con nect with it, and then when the horses start, the sliding tongue will draw the cross-bar forward till the latch is thrown off by the trip is, by which movement of the cross-bar forward the wheels will bestarted and rotated by means of the lever Z) and eccentric-block c lifted by the cord e, so that the block a shall bear upon the tread of the wheel, and the hook on the lever b shall clamp on the axle a. so soon as the bar f is released from the sliding tongue 0, the weight of the block a and lover b will relieve their hearing on the wheels andaxle, and they will fall back out of the way by their own gravity, when, at the same time, the draught will come on the body of the ear, and the momentum already gained by the wheels will enable the horses to travel forward with but little extra exertion. The tongue 0 may be made stationary, and the starting apparatus inoperative with a king-bolt, m, to be used. at the pleasure of the driver; and the cord e may .be arranged to run over pulleys. The samearrangemen't will be made at each end of the car.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesirc to secure by Letters Patcnt, is-

The combination of the lever b, eccentric-block c, the cord 0, the sliding cross-bar f, the latch i, and the spring 7; with the sliding tongue 0, the car-wheels B, and the axle a, arranged and operating substantially as and for the purposes herein described.

THOMAS B. JORDAN.

Witnesses:

PETER MGADAMS, Tnonas OKANE. 

